28 colored and engraved plates and frontispiece, and 2 other engravings uncolored

The t.p. is engraved and on 2 successive leaves

Most of the 31 plates are dated, with dates from Jul. 1, 1811, to Jan. 1, 1812 (one plate is dated Jan. 1, 1811, perhaps an engraving error for 1812)

The colored plates are handcolored aquatints and mezzotints

Originally published in a larger format as the third part of Thornton's A new illustration of the sexual system of Carolus von Linnaeus. This edition, for which the plates were re-engraved with some changes, includes all the colored illustrations of the original edition except the group of four auriculas and the white lily. Included in this ed. only is the plate "Artichoke Protea." The plate "Aesculapius, Flora, Ceres, and Cupid Honouring the Bust of Linnaeus" is not colored in this ed., nor is "Cupid Inspiring the Plants with Love." Included in both editions is the col. plate "Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth," although it is not listed in the contents for the original ed. Cf. Ronald King's introd. to his 1981 re-issue of the original plates (published as: The temple of Flora / by Robert Thornton ; introduction by Ronald King. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, c1981); according to him the 1812 ed. is artistically much inferior to the original

Binding: green cloth over boards; leather spine and corners; spine gilt tooled with title; housed in green cloth slipcase

Gift of Tania Norris

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